Hi Folks,
I hope this finds you well. A quick note on upcoming events. I’ll be coming to Victoria, BC two weeks from today, giving a talk the evening of June 9th and a daylong retreat on the 10th. Then in July, I will be in the UK, giving a talk on the 7th and a daylong event on the 8th. I am also tentatively planning an evening event in Bristol, UK on Monday July 11th (details forthcoming). For info on all of these as well as my weekly Sunday Zoom meetings, you can click the link below.
Patterns of Life
Let’s say I asked how you were doing right now, and you answered, “Well, I’m feeling a little tired.”
Okay. Now, here’s a question to ponder, not analytically but experientially: What exactly is that label referring to?
Just as the various constellations we’ve identified in the night sky all refer to recognizable patterns of light, what is “tired” (or any other experiential descriptor we might use) a pattern of? Really look.
The experiential “particles” that have configured themselves into this thing you’re calling tired—what are those actually comprised of? What are the experiential building blocks that make up this state you’re describing?
Just feel your way into the question…
What is it that has assembled itself into the particular pattern you’ve identified and are calling, “being tired?” Sure, you have a name for it, a word that attempts to characterize this seeming pattern that’s appearing. But exactly what is that appearance made of? What is tired, actually?
What this kind of inquiry can reveal is that the seeming patterns we are describing are themselves not actually describable! We simply cannot get to the bottom of what anything is. Really let the truth of that sink in…
Regardless of the label we’re using to characterize a given pattern, the patterns themselves are essentially un-characterizable and unresolvable in the sense of our not being able to determine exactly what they are nor where they are occurring.
And so, it turns out that phenomena, including those we conventionally think of as entrapping or problematic, are far less fixed, structured or definable than we’ve imagined them to be. Challenging states such as fear or anxiety or insecurity can often feel like a kind of prison that we are somehow trapped in or limited by. But when we explore exactly what it is any conceptual or linguistic label is referring to, we can begin to taste the inherently diaphanous, transcendental nature of all these experiential patterns. This discovery reveals that we are never actually stuck in anything but are instead swimming in a sea of open-ended, unresolvable, indeterminate energy and intelligence, present and yet ultimately unfindable and ungraspable. And the “me” that imagines itself stuck? It is that same vast, boundless, open-ended indefinability.
Thank you John! I had so hoped to be able to come to Victoria to meet and spend time with you in person, however, am unable to have the time away from work on those days. I hope it goes beautifully for you all! Wishing you all the best with your plans in the UK too and so appreciate your Sunday Zoom gatherings. Thank you so much for sharing your gifts with us 💜
~ Trish 🎵